170 Subprime Deals 'Under Analysis' by Fitch

Fitch Ratings has announced that 170 subprime residential mortgage-backed securities transactions have been placed "Under Analysis," which indicates that rating actions on the deals will be taken over the next few weeks.Fitch said the latest under-analysis list reflects June performance results that show "continued negative trends, particularly for the late 2005 and 2006 subprime vintages," as well as changes to Fitch's subprime loss forecasting assumptions based on the new data. "These changes were made to better capture the deteriorating performance of pools from 2006 and late 2005 in the face of continued poor loan performance and home price weakness," the rating agency said. Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.